“Irina Chukovskaya is a brightly gifted pianist. Her performance attracts with its exceptional virtuosity, sonic culture and genuine artistry. Music of different styles and directions is within her power,” said Mstislav Rostropovich about Irina Chukovskaya.

A student of Stanislav Neuhaus and Vera Gornostayeva, prominent teachers and heirs to the Neuhaus school (after graduation from the Moscow Conservatory the pianist improved her skills with Dmitri Bashkirov and Mikhail Kollontai), Irina Chukovskaya won the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw in 1980. Today, the pianist gives concerts and master classes around the world constantly expanding her repertoire.

Chopin’s music is the brightest part of the artist’s repertoire. “Irina Chukovskaya’s Chopin is first of all radiant, refined, fascinating with sparkling pianism,” wrote professor Evgeny Levitan. Chukovskaya’s mastery encompasses both dramatic and “virtuosic” pages of Chopin’s music, which is brightly demonstrated on this collection.

The early Variations brillantes and Bolero, Op.19, one of the first works composed in Paris, are performed with grace and spectacular lustre. A quite different side of Chopin’s music is represented with lyrical dance miniatures such as the mazurkas of 1845 and 1846 (Opp. 59 and 63) and a very popular Waltz in C sharp minor. Scherzo No.4 and a tragic Ballade No.4, two one-movement pieces with elements of description, close the album which is built as a mini-anthology of the Polish genius’s music.

Recorded in Polish Baltic F. Chopin Philharmonic, Gdańsk, 2015